


Herding Cats

by akisazame



Category: Persona 4
Genre: M/M, and a kitten, p4week2014
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-05
Updated: 2014-06-05
Packaged: 2018-02-03 11:23:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1742996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akisazame/pseuds/akisazame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yosuke decides to get Souji a cat and is unprepared for the consequences.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Herding Cats

**Author's Note:**

> For [#P4week2014](http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/p4week2014) Day 4: Favorite Pairing.

Yosuke had never really liked cats. He had vague memories of having a cat when he was very young; his mother had owned the cat long before she and Yosuke's father had gotten together, and by the time Yosuke was born he was old and crotchety. He had no patience for much of anything besides looking out the window and getting fed, and he definitely had no patience for a small human tugging curiously on his tail. Yosuke couldn't remember when exactly the cat had died, but he had been too young to really understand anyway.

Growing up, he'd had the usual small child pets. Every year at the summer festival he would win a goldfish, which would end up dead within a week or two either due to his own negligence or the fact that it had been a cheap festival goldfish to start with. In second grade he'd gotten to take home the class's pet rabbit for a weekend, whereupon he promptly left the cage open. He was convinced he had lost the rabbit, completely inconsolable until his dad had finally found it hiding under the couch. They'd had to coax the terrified creature out with a handful of pellets, and Yosuke spent the rest of the weekend moping in his room while his mother tended to the rabbit instead. From then on it was back to the yearly goldfish until Yosuke finally got too old to play festival games, and then it was a whole lot of nothing. Still, he didn't really feel like he was missing an essential part of childhood or anything. It was just like having a brother or sister; some of his friends had them, but he was doing just fine without.

Souji was the first friend Yosuke'd had who was really, _really_ into cats. Chie had that weird big dog, but her love for that dog was small peanuts compared to Souji's adoration for cats. On more than one occasion, Souji would cut one of their afternoons together short because he had to stop at the shopping district on his way home to pick up cat food for the strays outside Dojima's house. Souji's cat domain quickly expanded to the strays on the floodplain too, and he even took up fishing so that he could feed them some fresh meals. Yosuke decided not to bring up the fact that the time Souji spent fishing was time that the two of them couldn't spend together, because god, that sounded kind of gay.

Obviously, by the time Souji and Yosuke decided to go to the same college and move in together and kiss each other every once in a while, Yosuke had gotten over the whole "kind of gay" thing. Souji, however, had not gotten over his compulsion to befriend every stray cat he came across. After just one month at their new apartment, Yosuke saw at least three different cats hanging around in the bushes outside.

"You know," Yosuke said one night as he and Souji were lying in bed, "I bet it'd be okay with the landlord if you let one of those strays come live with us."

Souji looked up from the psychology book he was reading and gave Yosuke a curious look. "What makes you say that all of a sudden?"

The truth was that Souji smelled strongly like fish, but Yosuke wouldn't be caught dead admitting that as the reason he'd brought it up. "I dunno, I was just thinking about it. You really like those cats and those cats really like you. I bet it wouldn't be a big deal to take one in."

Souji closed the book and sighed. "I don't think taking in a cat from outside would be a good idea. I don't even know that they're all strays. None of them have collars, but that doesn't mean they don't belong to someone. I can't just steal someone else's cat."

Yosuke rolled over onto his back and looked despondently up at the ceiling. "Yeah, I guess you're right, partner."

The truth was, Yosuke probably would have been okay letting the whole thing drop for a while. It was entirely a coincidence that, on his way home from school three days later, he ran into a young lady in the park with a box of kittens. It didn't help matters that the box was labeled "FREE TO GOOD HOME!"

Never having owned one, he had no idea exactly what kinds of things a person needed for a cat, and decided the best idea would be to just stop at the pet store and ask. The owner was more than happy to sell him a whole pile of supplies, including a scratching post and a cat bed. It all seemed pretty reasonable, though his wallet disagreed. It took him a long time to strap everything haphazardly to the back of his motorcycle and even longer to get home, but he eventually made it with all his precious cargo in tact. He noted that Souji's bike was already parked beside the building, which meant he couldn't set up the elaborate surprise he'd been planning, but it wasn't like he could sneak everything in and set it up without his partner realizing. He'd just have to go with the old hide-it-behind-your-back routine.

He left most of the supplies at the end of the hall and placed the cat carrier behind his legs, then knocked on his own door. Which, now that he thought about it, made the whole thing kind of obvious, since they had to buzz guests through into the main building. Well, whatever, it's not like _he_ was the surprise.

It only took a few moments for a very confused Souji to open the apartment door. "Did you forget your key or somet--" He cut himself off, leaning over slightly to look at the object behind Yosuke. "Oh, Yosuke, you didn't."

"It's not a stray!" Yosuke protested, stepping aside so that Souji could bend down and look inside the carrier. "Someone was giving them away outside Junes! And, you know, we'd been talking about it, and..."

"We talked about it and I said no," Souji said, unzipping the front of the carrier and holding his hand out towards the kitten. It was huddled in the back of the carrier, barely more than a furry grey ball with ears and eyes. "I know you meant well, and it was very sweet of you, but you probably should have called me first."

"That would have spoiled the surprise," Yosuke grumbled as he walked to the end of the hall to retrieve all of the supplies he'd bought. "I got all this stuff, too. Hopefully I didn't forget anything? Well, more like hopefully the store owner didn't forget."

Souji looked up from the kitten for a moment to survey Yosuke's purchases. "I hope you kept the receipt."

Yosuke's face fell so hard that it probably would have fallen clear off his head if it could. "Y- you don't want the cat?"

By this time Souji had managed to coax the kitten out of the carrier, and it was curiously sniffing at the apartment building hallway's questionable carpet. Souji looked at the kitten, then at Yosuke, then back at the kitten, then finally sighed. "No, that's not what I meant. But I can tell you right now that we don't need most of that." He motioned at the supplies the pet store owner had talked Yosuke into buying. "For instance, a cat will probably never use a bed. In fact, it will probably sleep everywhere in our apartment _but_ that bed."

Yosuke blinked away the panic that had gripped him, then forced himself to laugh. "I think our own bed might be off-limits, though."

"That's what you think _now_ ," Souji said, gently guiding the kitten back into the carrier before it could wander too far away. "Just wait. Cats don't have concepts of modesty or courtesy."

It took a minute for Yosuke to figure out what Souji meant. Maybe this hadn't been such a good idea after all.

As the days went on, Yosuke became increasingly convinced that this was, in fact, the worst idea he'd ever had. The kitten, which had been named Miko, was occupying almost all of Souji's free time, which, between classes and part-time tutoring, had been scarce to begin with. At first Yosuke had thought it wouldn't be so bad; despite the fact that Souji had made him return most of the more expensive cat supplies, it had still been a pretty hefty bill. To compensate, he'd started picking up as many extra shifts at the local Junes as he could get his hands on. This left them with as little as minutes together on some days, during which Souji was often feeding Miko, or playing with Miko, or watching Miko sleep. During any and all of these activities, Souji usually had his phone out, snapping copious amount of pictures for who-knew-what reason.

The last straw was when Yosuke came home from a late night shift at Junes to find Souji already in bed, and Miko sleeping in the spot where Yosuke would normally be.

"What the heck?!" Yosuke exclaimed, causing Miko to leap from the bed and hide underneath it.

Souji, entirely too used to Yosuke's random outbursts, just rolled over sleepily. "Oh, welcome back," he said, already settling in to go back to sleep.

"'Welcome back'? _'Welcome back'?!_ That's all you've got to say?!" Yosuke was overreacting, and he knew it, but he had really had it with that stupid cat horning in on everything that was supposed to be his. "You let that _cat_ sleep in my spot!"

Souji blinked, then investigated Yosuke's side of the bed. "Seems to be clear to me?"

"Well yeah, _now_ it's clear!" Yosuke said, sitting in the exact spot that Miko had vacated, as if he could somehow reclaim his territory. "I'm starting to wish I'd never gotten you that stupid cat."

Yosuke regretted saying it as soon as the words left his mouth; the look on Souji's face was heartbreaking. "W- well, if that's how you feel about it, we can see about finding someone else to adopt her."

Someday Yosuke would learn the fine art of shutting his stupid idiot mouth, but today was not that day. He sighed and reached out to brush a hand through Souji's hair. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I dunno, I guess I just..." He trailed off, trying to find the right words. "I'm just not used to having to share. Anything, really, but especially not you."

Souji just stared for a minute, then sat up in bed to wrap his arms around Yosuke. "You're jealous of a cat." It wasn't even a question.

Yosuke blushed in spite of himself and pressed his face into Souji's shoulder in a feeble attempt to hide it. "It sounds stupid when you say it like that."

"You know," Souji said, " _you're_ kind of like a cat."

"What?! No!" Where had that even come from anyway?!

"You purr, too."

"What, when?"

Souji tilted his head and whispered in Yosuke's ear. "When we--"

Yosuke tried to pull away, but Souji's arms were anchoring him in place. "No! No!! I do not!"

"You do," Souji confirmed, planting a kiss on the side of Yosuke's neck. Yosuke instinctively hummed in response. "See? You're doing it right now!"

"A _hum_ is not a _purr_ , partner," Yosuke protested, pulling away from Souji and his dumb cat-liking face. "They are distinctly different."

"Well, of course they are," Souji said, leaning back in and rubbing his nose against Yosuke's cheek. "Technically cats are the only animals who purr. But it's close enough, for a human." He reached a hand up and started to scratch the nape of Yosuke's neck, slowly moving his hand up until it settled behind Yosuke's ear. Yosuke leaned into the touch. "Also, you like it when I do this."

Yosuke pulled his head away from Souji's hand indignantly. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"That's how you scratch a cat, dummy."

"How the heck am I supposed to know that? I've never really had a cat."

Souji laughed nervously. "Well, to tell you the truth, neither have I."

"Huh? No way, you're so good with them! I figured you must've had 'em when you were a kid or something."

Souji shook his head. "We moved around too much for that. Wherever we moved, I would just make friends with whatever cats were in the neighborhood. It's easy to get a cat to like you; just put some food down, let it sniff you, eventually it'll let you pet it. But if you have to leave suddenly, you can't feel too bad about it, because cats never act like they need you."

"Well then I'm _definitely_ not like a cat," Yosuke said, pressing his forehead to Souji's, then leaning in for a soft kiss.

When Miko jumped back up on the bed, neither of them noticed.


End file.
